recorded and revealed that security services in moscow release of tape of a cia agent pledging millions to get a russian officer at his country. inmates are going to my by a reporting escalating harassment saying that being subjected to painful and degrading snatches for reasons as heavy as a telephone call to the lawyers also his spokesman of the detention center tells a very different story. examinations eager to cash in on which is growing bigger china and india are now getting a stronger voice when it comes to carving up the region. and security over sanctity the u.s. government a massive surveillance operation targeting journalists with the white house trumpeting national security as the be all and end all.

here in moscow with twenty four hours a day online and on screen. new evidence has been really suggesting a cia agent caught in moscow was trying to persuade a russian security officer to provide classified information. has all the details. as more details offer the latest spying scandal between moscow and washington continue to emerge we've managed to obtain audio recordings of what the federal security service claims were phone conversations between the undercover cia officer and the person he was hoping to recruit. more. talkative wouldn't you want to store attack yes because of more just at the bottom

of a million dollars of course you and yes. some. ideas. such as it all happened late on monday night in one of moscow's city parks where an undercover cia officer officially working in moscow as an american diplomat was hoping to meet an officer of one of russia's security services who he was working to recruit and here is where the classic spy story begins the man brought to the meeting several wigs including one on him tens of thousands of the euro in cash map of the city and the cheapest and most simplest form you can possibly find and pretty much throw away right after using presume we have the one used in these phone conversations but despite all the common flaws and the spy tricks obviously he didn't know that he was under surveillance by the f.s.b. for the past few years and that the man he was hoping to recruit would be the same

one to detain him but just before that happened here's a piece of what seems to be the last phone conversation he had. of the park. so you have a vision with obviously that didn't turn out very well for the undercover cia a officer and all the f.s.b. is also released. note that he also had along with him with instructions apparently to recruit agents on how to connect with the center here. included registering a separate to g. mail account which would be used specifically for the connection with the center and had information about salaries that this person would receive receive it which would reach up to one million u.s. dollars a year plus bonuses depending on the importance of the information that he would pass along to the american side now after he was temporarily detained the man was

passed over back to american authorities has been announced persona non grata in russia and is reported now to be getting ready to return to the united states nor fishel reaction from washington but we do know that u.s. ambassador in russia michael mcfaul did make a visit to the foreign ministry earlier today but no details have been released of that russian officials have been voicing outrage with what happened saying that the leaders of the two countries have been working to develop and improve relations and there's been progress around the syria issue and how to deal with that and now the scandal here in sochi where the russian president really is one of his advisors told us that it's really surprising that it happened now despite orders from the leaders of both countries to their security services to work together on one side rather than against each other the exposure of the cia spy mosco is filled to

move the political arena because the may just let me do instead the unfortunate spy is now being ridiculed for his. clumsy methods he's going to con has more on the media. the reaction in the media is a mix of irony and disbelief you hear comments like oh i didn't know spies wrote instructions or they will point out ryan fogle spy kid you know with the waves and the map and the money and washington post writes that the kid looks like cheap costume shop regalia so amid all these giggles you have comments raising doubts as to whether this was a cia operative on a mission the disbelief is generally based on this it looks too clumsy for the cia the cheap structure is but the fact of the matter is that the guy was caught wearing that wig and there are photos of him in that wake then you have others pointing at the fact that there was such a detailed photo and video material of the operation and trying to build some theories on that so it's actually standard practice for the russian security

service to record the operation in detail when they catch someone red handed then they choose or not choose to share it with the media of course so our colleagues here are having both laughs and doubts about this story but then there were laughs and doubts when the russian f.s.b. discovered the fake rock that was used by british secret services to aspire to russia back in two thousand and six british authorities denied the allegations six years later the former chief of staff to prime minister tony blair admitted that they were in fact true it was a fake rock with a transmitter inside placed it in some park apparently spies would approach it with their laptops and it allowed to receive and send information at that time the story was ridiculed made it no less true though and f.s.b. official reportedly revealed that in general there was a similar incident when an american spy was also deported from the country and the whole of the british intelligence on of those two things the espionage game between moscow and washington will go on on and. it is a great success for the f.s.b.

the russian domestic security service what fairly fail to do is follow a set of rules which the cia has always had it's called the moscow rules it requires you very the pattern of your behavior you're constantly told what has happening remember a separate state john kerry is currently meeting so gay lover of the russian foreign minister. this is going to be a most embarrassing encounter as far as the americans are concerned love rob or have a smile on his face as the great game will in this particular instance russia has scored america has lost but make no bones about it there will be a few recalls at the moment and before we know relations through back to normal and

as i say. the cia will replace only with another intelligence officer and the game will continue. online at the moment we've collected a selection of top spying scandals of the twenty first century involving the u.s. and russia going to r.t. dot com for the background to all of this. a simple telephone call with lawyers now going to the marine made to degrading body search according to prisoners they allege that authorities are determined to stop the outside world learning about the desperate situation there up to eighty percent of inmates at the detention facility and now on hunger strike it is marking its nine hundred ninety day but speaking to me a little earlier the spokesman of the u.s. military authority that oversees guantanamo navy captain robert drowned denied widespread abuse at the facility. when a detainee leave the camp they get what we call a full frisk which is a pat down search not unlike you'd experience going through airport security if you

are selected for secondary screening in the united states it's quick it's with full clothing on and it's noninvasive so the lawyers it's not the detainees job to tell the truth the lawyers just repeat what the detainees say that all of those allegations are false what about the allegations of many years i want to let me ask you about the allegations about the on the safe and inhumane force feeding all those prisoners who are on hunger strike do you deny that well there is the policy of the united states that it's drugs and life for lawful means we currently have a hundred hunger strikers today we have currently thirty who are. doing and paralyse said that's using a liquid nutrition supplement. most of them when they're ordered to do that go compliantly and take it a percentage about a third need to be taken to their their cheating but it's not a it's

a procedure that's done in hospitals and nursing homes every day. it's not. it's not done to harass them but it's done consisting life to sustain life but we've been hearing from the medical justice network who is saying that doctors are accused of colluding in torture that at the camp and that's been agreed on by the world medical association and the u.n. . yes and we disagree with them it's a matter of national policy our courts of up held that. sustaining life she lawful means is lawful and we we will we have a medical protocol where we evaluate detainees based on their weight loss and co-morbidity. we we allow them to hunger strike that if they get to about eighty five percent below that below eighty five percent of body weight some damage can be down we will do the involuntary feeding all of those allegations are false they're

not they're not being subject to extreme temperatures they're not being denied food and water the conditions are as good as they can possibly be you know they had satellite television and they had communal living get all kinds of good things from your your producers are welcome to come carol rosenberg of the miami herald today here more than sixty town and we're trying to connect with somebody you can come see for yourself. to crank on and tell me medical justice network and in the experts and for speeding explain how to which it does continue on one of the. repeated insertion of rather the word bore feeding tubes is obviously painful. the joint task force piece shows that rather than leaving the tube down as would be safe and humane he's being removed and shoved back down routinely regularly and painfully with the patient in restraint over and over again the policy behind

v.s.o.p. is to punish hunger strikers for daring to protest. is a protest against what the strikers sees as denial of access to justice in this case a decade or more of detention without charge or trial or possibility of release and it's clear that the hunger strikers are being kept under weight and lethargic due to the planning of their force feeding whether it's punishment as a means of control or through medical error so i think there's a real chance that something will go badly wrong and fairly soon that the doctors in guantanamo are in breach of their ethical duties by colluding in torture the world medical association and the un agree with this these doctors like everyone else have duties to refuse unlawful orders and to expose abuse that was established in new york because they do not want the hunger strikers do not trust and sometimes fear those who are responsible for cooperating and what they see as abuse so there

is no doctor patient relationship their hunger strike despair pushed to the limit. the one hundred one ton of detainees are screaming for justice. where is the end for. competition over the vast natural resources is taking a new turn china and india countries hold associated with the north pole joining forces with four other nations that have been awarded permanent observer status to the arctic council that is of course he explains this cold calculation. what we witnessed today at the arctic council in meeting was what some are calling an asian rush to participate in the group that the arctic council oversees the arctic area and the receiving ice flows have opened up shipping routes for asian nations particular to take advantage of and there's also

a lot of interest in the mineral resources specifically in the arctic area the us survey in two thousand and eight estimated that twenty two percent of the earth's oil and gas was under the arctic bad trouble is people aren't really sure how to divide it up so we've had strong proposals that the arctic be divided according to long to shoot or to close coastline exposure to the to the arctic area but there's also been a suggestion from the u.s. which is a permanent member of the council to an international zone be created free for all if you will a lot of people fear that that would open a pandora's box certainly the countries would who border the arctic region feel that might let players into the arctic area who don't necessarily have the best interests of the indigenous people of the arctic at heart. the u.s. plan funnily enough. finds echoes in china's stance towards the arctic where they they now call themselves a near arctic nation and they would be delighted if the arctic was opened up and allowed exploration from nonspecifically arctic nations the interest in china in

particular from china in particular but also from singapore which also join the council today is a major trading how they can shorten the transport time to european markets for the i phone the i pads the televisions and what comes from the asian markets to europe they can shorten that travel time or transport time by at least a week if not two weeks and this would basically help increase profit margins for those who would be interested on the other hand there are resources as well and the chinese as you know are very eager to. secure resources on a global basis we've seen their work in africa and i think probably was we'd see a continuation of that policy in the arctic. and it would screw the meeting on take centuries says the international ambitions towards a regional high despite extreme difficulties exploring the area it's very very expensive it's risky it. with failure they've

had to goes at it already now and the canadian arctic i know the russians are well underway. but there has been very little success so far in this part of the world and exploiting those resources and getting them out but i think the technology now this has caught up the ice is retreating everybody is looking at the arctic it suddenly matters to the rest of the world is one of this place that you know that we sort of ignored we left of the polar bears to the explorers and now china's very interested south korea which is a big ship builders very interested. you know italy has a research research station in no small part is as it is india. this is this is really everybody's kind of lining up there it's like a chess game right now. europe leads the charge to raise funds for war torn money with pledges totally three billion euros almost all coming from struggling eurozone nations a much more feet in just a minute after the break as the news continues on all to.

see a story. you think you understand it and then something else you hear. and realized everything you thought you. are welcome to the big picture. giving peace a chance this may or may not be the case when it comes to the fate of syria russian peace plan to end a civil war is being reconsider are the u.s. and its ally serious or is this a ploy intensified the conflict. download the official. language stream quality and enjoy your

favorite. if you're away from your television just doesn't matter now with your mobile device you can watch on t.v. anytime anywhere. he's continues here on the u.s. justice department is on the back foot defending its massive spy operations against the associated press news agency about one hundred journalists and it has had their phones tapped for months with the revelations sparking widespread outrage on his wall has been following the scandal. it's being called an unprecedented government intrusion the justice department secretly collected two months of telephone records from the associated press and its reporters. a.p. believes this story prompted the secret investigation the cia uncovered

a plot to bomb a u.s. bound airliner a plot originated in yemen and was carried out by al qaeda they arabian peninsula by reporting this al qaeda was put on notice that the cia had an inside look at their activities be a piece as the justice department did not say why they needed the information but says among the nearly two dozen telephone records collected at least five of them were from reporters working on the story in question i've been a prosecutor since one nine hundred seventy six and i have to say that this is among if not the most serious it is within the top two or three most serious leaks that never see it put the american people at risk eric holder announced today that he was recusing himself from this a.p. investigation the prominent news agency condemned the government's actions in a letter to holder yesterday they could be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of the associated press. these

records potentially disclose information about the seas and operations that the government has no conceivable rights to know now the a.p. is asking for an explanation as to why the government pulled reporters' phone records without notifying them the worry now is the effect the news will have on the media and its sources i think the effect on the media has already been felt i mean you have sources that are being shut down doors just being shut in people's faces now that was probably the intention the intention was to scare. the turn off the faucet in other words from leaks in the wake of the controversy white house press secretary jay carney reiterated the obama administration's dedication to transparency he believes strongly in the need for the press to be unfettered in its pursuit of investigative journalism he also believes strongly as a citizen and as president in the need to ensure that classified information is not

leaked because it can endanger our national security interests there's a balance between transparency and national security has been a delicate one since nine eleven the obama administration has a history of aggressively going after whistleblowers prosecuting more people for leaking classified information than any other administration combined and washington was wall r.t. . this discuss now the implications of the u.s. justice department surveillance mission with norman solomon he's director of the institute for public at crissy it's known as a show that helps activists groups be heard. in the interests of national security short of the action against associated press was justified in this instance. well a lot is done in the name of national security and protecting the public several decades ago spying by the nixon administration on the press dirty tricks and so forth were also rationalized inside the white house and later publicly as somehow protecting the public from subversive or other elements that threaten the republic

and that is really one of the last refuge of scoundrels when it comes to top leaders who want to turn off the tap of information reaching their own public that those leaders would rather the public be kept in the dark about and i think what we've seen with these revelations about the phone records of a.p. reporters is that this in ministration which has already waged a larger war against more whistleblowers than any other in u.s. history has continued to push the envelope and try to have a chilling effect on not only journalists but the sources within the administration . and targeting obviously a credible organization like the associated press in some ways has it been a victory for john and it's because it's been a major embarrassment now for the administration. well i think it cuts both ways

because in a sense while the obama administration in the last couple of days has encountered fierce criticism from very bain stream and even some conservative media outlets the administration has also sent a very clear message to every employee of the u.s. government that you may think you're on your cell phone or your home telephone speaking to a journalist telling them something that perhaps we at the white house don't want you to tell but now you are on clearer notice the never that down the road your phone number may turn up in subpoenaed documents by the department of justice or some other agency and then we can turn the screws on you and find out whether you are a whistleblower that's a very dangerous message and in that sense this is a blow for freedom of the press against freedom of the press and all the rules that

i mean it is classified information and that person is leaking to the press and that cools the white house would be saying that sort of information could compromise national security there in the room when they do deserve to be tracked down while that's always the argument but it turns out that there's so much classification of information that the u.s. public not only has a right to know but must know for democracy to function and to be kept in the dark to not know what is being done in our names with our tax dollars by our elected leaders is to short circuit our own capacity to be part of a democratic process. so just briefly going to find balance then between the need for national security and of course respecting freedom of speech and privacy rights it's going to be a long argument this one is do you think never will be about it's found just briefly. well the ballots will be fought over but until the us ans

a perpetual war footing the so-called war on terror then the domestic repression is going to be a major problem no one great to talk to you thank you very much indeed norman solomon live here on r.t. thanks for your time. thank you. european an international donors have pledged more than three billion euros towards rebuilding water and money at a conference in brussels and even crisis stricken greece is chipped in stumping up fifty thousand euros the french government says it hopes to bring security to a country still plagued by violence almost half a year after french troops were deployed to push back rebels journalist in africa specialist johnson says the large amount of money put forward shows just how nervous european countries are about instability in the money what the cost signals is that mali the society as a whole has crumbled that is what it justifies but it also shows that the french are also concerned concerned that the militants are still a threat france for mali a threat for its neighbors and also concerned that it could easily spill to europe

so the financing is a kneejerk reaction want to support the government of mali but also to signify that mali's infrastructures are weak and they need significant operatives feeling that the addressing the issues of poverty inequality and justice can only justify the reasons why islamists can make that place a haven and why the local population sometimes can show some level of resentment and of course the the long of the the french stay on the ground ten surely resistance can become a problem. there's some other handsome national stories in that brief now the u.n. general assembly has condemned the forces of syrian president bashar al assad in a new resolution the motion was brought by qatar and other arab nations and adopted by a large majority this is rebels in syria of launch an all out assault on a prison in aleppo that holds four thousand prisoners many of them political activists figes reportedly used to call bombs to blow through the main well.

series of bomb blasts that struck cross iraq killing at least fifteen people and injuring dozens more the dead this attacks took place next to government buildings in the northern city of kirkuk but to call bombs exploded killing ten people a suicide bomber on a motorcycle later hit a police checkpoint in a city north of baghdad killing one security officer. i'll be back with a news team with more in just about half an hour from now the meantime stay with us for people of crosstalk as he crosses his expose on the on going to in syria itself to the bright.

wealthy british style it's time to. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kaiser report on a lark. choose your language. of holy week you know if you're going to. choose the consensus you can. choose the opinions that you think great to. choose the stories that in your life. choose access to your off to.

hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle giving peace a chance this may or may not be the case when it comes to the fate of syria after almost a year a russian peace plan to end a civil war is being reconsidered the idea is simple no preconditions and all parties have a seat at the negotiating table are the u.s. and its gulf allies serious or is this a ploy to merely intensify the complex. to cross talk russia syria and.